Zombie Theorem (Book 1): The Culling (2 page)
Reynolds caught my attention just then. “Dan I want you to know, I am not charging you with anything, yet." He had my full attention after that statement. "At this point I am just conducting research into what happened. That’s why I let the lawyers go. You can leave anytime you want. Just say so. But I would appreciate it if you would continue when you’re done eating."
Wait what? Why would he charge me? I was fighting for my life, so what I was forced to do should be deemed as defensive in nature. “I appreciate that, but what I am about to tell you is going to surprise you and you may not believe me.”
Reynolds stared at me with concern written on his face. “Okay that’s fair. Whenever you are ready just let me know. I kept the recorder going so nothing would be missed. You do understand right?”
I took a large drink of coffee and for once in my life, didn’t make a snobbish sneer or remark over it not being my roast. I demolished the sandwich and soup then sat back in my chair and continued my story.
Matt had seemed concerned and amazed that I had not heard the news. He pushed himself out of his chair and looked around the floor very conspiratorial and ushered me back to my office. I went along so as not to upset him further. I took my seat crossed my legs and waited for Matt to start. He sat himself in one of my guest chairs on the other side of the desk and closed his eyes, as if he was gathering his thoughts. I drank more of my coffee enjoying the taste and heat.
“Late, last night the news started reporting on a virus that was spreading, mainly in large cities. New York, D.C., and Boston were the first to get hit, then it took off spreading like a wild fire feeding off of a six-year drought. It presented as a common cold, sore throat, runny nose and general aches and pains. It would progress faster into rashes, problems breathing, a high fever and then death. There is no official name for the virus, but some news reports are calling it “Wild Fire” due to the high fever it causes. I called all the departments in our New York office and finally got someone in the IT department. Gupta, you know the guy who is always fixing our server issues? Well he said that Mr. Salazar, the VP of operations, sent every one home this morning and told them to stay home till more information was released on the disease. Gupta said he was staying at the office since he had the cafeteria on his floor and a couch in his office. Says he’s afraid of what’s going on and doesn’t want to go home. He described New York as a giant ghost town. No one is on the streets and that the buses and subway have been stopped. He checked with the other offices in Charlotte, Miami and Boston and they say the same thing. I have no idea how bad it is on the west coast, but looks like a lot of people here decided to not come in, and some left this morning before you got here. I heard accounting and HR are empty too.” He rushed this all out almost in one breath. I watched Matt for a long ten count, to see if maybe he was pulling my leg. The guy liked to embellish, but something in his eyes made me believe him. He was sweaty and couldn’t keep his eyes focused on one thing, he genuinely looked afraid.
I sat back in my chair and tried to think of something to say. I remembered something about the flu on the east coast, last night on the news, as I was shutting the TV off. I came to a decision finally, “Ok Matt, I need your help on this. Go to the first aid station in the supply closet and get all the medical masks out. Then distribute them around the office and take a count on who is here. Please do not start a panic or talk about what you just told me. I’m going to make some calls. Come back to my office when you’re done and give me the count of attendance and names if you can.”
Matt nearly launched himself from the chair. “Woh buddy. I need you to relax. Calm down, take some deep breaths and don’t get too excited ok?” I said. “We don’t want a panic.”
He took some deep breaths and left my office, looking a little more in control. I opened the company directory on my computer and looked up the number for the head of security. Gunther Friedman was an ex FBI guy, working out of our headquarters in Denver. I rang him up and he picked up on the 4
th
ring. “Gunther, speak.” The man was very gruff and always to the point. He figured since you called him you had something to report. I heard he didn’t care if it was his boss or the custodian, somehow he got away with it.
“Gunther it’s Dan Welko out of San Fran. I’m in the office today and half my staff didn’t show up, now I am hearing about some kind of emergency on the East Coast. Does the company have an official response or process on this?”
“Dan, good to hear from you. Yeah I’ve been in meetings all night and this morning about that very thing.” He put his hand over the phone and I could hear him yelling at someone. “Sorry it’s a little crazy here. Ok we do not have an official response right now. Hold on, let me get somewhere private.” I could hear him breathing and grunting on the line as he traveled. “Dan, let me tell you something. A buddy of mine at the CDC called me this morning. I’ve known this guy since we were together at the FBI. He’s a straight shooter someone who would never speak without knowing all the facts and he is one cool cucumber. This time when we spoke though, he sounded stressed out and worried. Said the CDC had no idea what was going on. They have a sample of the damn bug but have no idea how it works. He said something about RNA and how he thinks it was manufactured. Other than that nothing. He also said last night the President shut down all flights from and to the east coast. So I don’t think the bug has gotten to our side of the Rockies yet. This thing is very contagious though, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before it shows up. How many do you have in the office? Are any of them showing symptoms of being sick?” Gunther sounded a little scared or at least on edge. Not what I was expecting. The guy always seemed eerily calm and never once has he ever spoken that much at one shot with me.
“I don’t know yet. I just got in. I have Matt Powers going through the office now, handing out medical masks and getting a count. I told him not to start a panic. I’m not sure how many people here know about the flu. Hell, I didn’t know until just now.”
“Good thinking Dan. So what did you see on the streets on your way in to work?”
“This morning the bus was pretty empty, I didn’t have to share my seat, and when I got off I noticed a lack of cars on the street, for San Fran that’s weird. I thought I was just lucky today, but again my mind was somewhere else at the time. Ok, hold on, Matt just came in. I’m putting you on speaker.” I punched the button on the phone and hung up the handset. I pointed at Matt to speak.
“Uhm, so we have 40 people including you and I on the floor right now. Two people have runny noses and little coughs. But I think they have had them for a couple of days. I gave them all masks.” Matt stammered.
“Matt, this is Gunther, head of corporate security. Is anyone talking about this flu or about the news stories?”.
“No one is talking about this right now but Ricky from Technical Writing asked me if he had to worry about anything. I told him no, but he should wear them. I think he meant the flu but I walked away hurrying to the next person.”
“Good job Matt, do me a favor, go back to your desk and act like you’re working but pay attention and let Dan know if anything changes. I need to finish this call up privately. “
“Ok I’ll do that. Thanks Gunther bye.” Matt left my office and headed back toward his desk.
“Dan, get me off the speaker phone.”
“Yeah Gunther.” I picked up the handset and turned off the speaker phone.
“I gotta get going, but do me a favor, pay attention to the office and watch out. If things start to get too much, I want you to take whoever will listen and get out of that building. For now, stay there. I’ll call again later and keep you updated of any new procedures.” Gunther explained.
“Great. I think I can keep them busy, I don’t want anyone to panic and I am pretty sure it’s safer here than anywhere else at this time. I have your cell number if it gets worse.” I said my thanks and disconnected the call, sat back in my chair and noticed I hadn’t touched my coffee in a bit. I downed the rapidly cooling cup and refreshed it from the heated pot. I sat there for a good 30 minutes staring at my monitor and not really reading the words in front of me. “Well time to do something Dan” I grabbed my hot coffee and left my office. Might as well walk the floor.
I caught Matt’s eye and nodded my head at the office. He got out of his chair and started to follow me. As I walked around for the next hour, I would stop and say hi to a couple of people, and make small talk. I had this nagging feeling like maybe, I was making a mistake by not telling these people what was going on. I stopped dead in my tracks causing Matt to walk into me. I stood there surveying the people I was responsible for.
“Matt I can’t do this. These people need to go home to their families or at least have a choice. Call everyone to the main conference room. I need to talk to them.” Matt looked frantic and to tell you the truth a little sick, like he had a cold. Maybe it’s just stress I thought. Matt nodded yes and took off to round everyone up. I headed to the front to tell Stacey, the receptionist, about the meeting.
I entered the lobby, and found Stacey’s station empty, her purse and cellphone missing. I figured she had decided on her own to leave. I went back through the lobby doors locking them up, so no one would come in while we were in our meeting. While coming up to the conference room I peered through the windows, it was already crowded. I opened the door and made my way to the front of the large oblong oak table. I looked around for Matt and found he was just walking in with two more coworkers. He caught my stare and nodded that he had everyone.
I cleared my throat and took my time looking everyone in the eye. I was taking leadership classes and this was something my trainer made sure was pounded into our heads. I love data, I love my job, but God, standing in front of people and public speaking scared the shit out of me. I cleared my throat and swallowed the lump that had decided to try and choke me. “Everyone listen up, I want to give you an update about what is going on inside the company and outside our own doors. After speaking to corporate security and our New York office, Matt and I have been alerted to some pretty scary stuff. It seems that the news has been reporting on a virus or flu going around that is causing some disturbing things. According to the news, the “flu” has a fast incubation period and it is incredibly infectious. Vice President of Operations Salazar closed the New York office down this morning, so they wouldn’t spread the bug around. It has also come to my attention that the FAA has shutdown flights from and to the east coast. So we are not sure if the “flu” has made it out here yet. The popular opinion is that it hasn’t yet. As you have noticed most of the office did not show up to work today. The morning crew has not had the manpower to run their projects last night, and with the New York office closed we don’t have the support we need to fix that. I’ve been asked not to alarm you guys but in good faith I cannot lie to you. I’m giving you the decision to do what you think is best for you and your family. I am going to stay here in the office and see what I can do to keep us from falling further and further behind once we can get this operation back up and running. Anyone who wants to stay, can, whoever wants to go is free to do so. I will not hold anything against you.”
I looked around and made eye contact again. “Let me tell you, this thing is bad, according to the news and a couple of sources I have talked to. So that’s it, if you want to go I would suggest for you to get going. Be safe in your decision and we’ll let you know when we expect you back. Just sign a sheet I’ll post on my door and indicate your decision and a contact number. Thanks for listening ladies and gentlemen and again stay safe.” Matt had already disappeared from the office and I knew he was posting the paper on my door. I watched as everyone started filing out of the room. I took a big sip of my coffee and frowned. It was cold again.
I made my way to the little lunch room down the hall and popped my cup in the microwave. I really couldn’t stand re heated coffee but most of my first cup, I had to drink cold. It was time for some warm coffee. One minute had passed when suddenly an alarm went off in the offices and all power went out. I was standing there in the dark shaking my head. “Great, now what the fuck has gone wrong.” I’m really not someone who swears, but my day had started in the crapper and now it felt like it just got flushed. A second later the emergency battery lights kicked on. I opened the microwave and got a small pleasure with my coffee at a warmth I could enjoy. I sighed and stood there for a minute waiting for the power to come back on, I dropped my head in defeat when it didn’t.
I made my way to the main floor and saw people milling about. I strolled over to a desk, picked up the phone handset, but found it was dead. Which was weird as our telephony system was on a separate power source and shouldn’t have gone down.
Matt shoveled more crap onto my pile of issues. “Big problems Dan, whole system is down, even our back up data lines, so the laptops aren’t getting a signal and since there is no power the desktops of course aren’t working. I can ping our servers, since they are on battery backup, but they are a dead end with no internet. And to add insult to injury the phones are also down.”
Someone was shouting from the lobby. I motioned for Matt to follow. We walked out the main doors and found people standing around the elevators. “They aren’t working.” Kim a middle aged, short roundish, Asian girl whined as she kept stabbing at the elevator call button.
